Cardiff Wales
© Matthew Horwood/Getty ImagesAn empty high street in Cardiff, Wales, in February.
Society's most creative and entrepreneurial people are likely to have suffered a greater hit to their mental health than the rest of the UK population during Covid lockdown, according to a study of more than 5,000 people that suggested extroverts had struggled more.

Individuals with open and extrovert personalities experienced higher deterioration in their mental health than other personality types, according to research by University of Glasgow academics based on the biggest running study of its kind. Open personalities - a widely used definition of people who tend to be curious and keen to try new things - were linked with a particularly marked increase in mental health problems in January 2021. Overall, a quarter of people who had moderately open personalities showed at least one additional symptom of mental deterioration.

By contrast, people whose personalities were judged to be dominated by "agreeableness" experienced less negative mental health consequences, according to analysis of the UK household longitudinal study - known as Understanding Society. Agreeableness is a personality category widely used by psychologists and indicates a desire for social stability, altruism and consideration of others' needs and feelings.

"People with an open personality, especially women, are paying a big price from this lockdown in terms of mental health," said Prof Eugenio Proto of the Adam Smith business school at the University of Glasgow. "Openness is a personality trait typical of creative people like artists and entrepreneurs, hence this can have repercussions on the economy and on the society as a whole in the post-Covid era. If there is a long-term effect we might expect a lower level of innovation and that could be a big cost."

Extraversion is linked to sensitivity to social rewards and so it was always likely that the lockdown would have a negative effect. However, this was only true in the first part of the pandemic, suggesting they found ways to get that feedback possibly through channels such as social media.

The findings appear to support a study of US college students at the University of Vermont in which higher levels of extraversion were found to be related to decreases in mood as the pandemic progressed, in contrast to those with lower extraversion for whom there was a slight increase in mood over time.

Schools have also noticed that lockdown has been better for introverts. Blackheath high school in south London said this week it was reconfiguring the way it operates after realising that introverted pupils shone during lockdown, away from noisy social school settings.